Rocco DiSpirito grew up in Jamaica, Queens, where his mother worked in a school cafeteria and taught her son great Italian home cooking. He entered the Culinary Institute of America at age seventeen and, upon graduation, went straight to work in the kitchens of France. He returned to the United States and earned a business degree from Boston University in 1989. He opened his first restaurant, Union Pacific, which earned three stars in The New York Times and landed him on the cover of Gourmet magazine. He is the author of several cookbooks, including Flavor, the winner of a James Beard Award. Find out more at RoccoDiSpirito.com.